Blood, Rot, & Squirrel Skulls
"Friend..."
I said with a toothy grin, hat in hand, as you desperately begin to regret opening your front door to a hat salesman or whatever.
"...I'd like a moment of your time to talk about Armello."
Well. This wasn't what you expected. You'd always wanted to meet a representative of a weird cult and talk it out with them, who hasn't? In the end, that kind of thing is a lot of trouble, and takes too much time out of the weekend.
You invite me in, give me the traditional offering of yak milk and confetti brownies, and we begin to discuss the story of a wonderful game that you may have heard about in passing on Steam.
Okay, so Armello isn't a cult, it just sort of feels like one at times. You know, in that "my friends and I have this crazy thing that we really believe in, and we keep pulling the people we know towards it, and probably talk about it too much, and we know it never quite caught fire like we want it to, but we hope it will someday" kind of way.
Armello is an online board game released on PC in late 2015 by League of Geeks. Since then, it's seen a release on PS4 and Xbox One, and as of March 15th of 2018, it's finally been adapted to and released on mobile devices worldwide (for free!). If you own a mobile device (or better yet, a tablet), this means that the only remaining reasons not to try it are if you hate board games, hate fun, or hate animals. And if you hate animals, I'm not (and never have been) talking to you. You may go.
The game has gone through many expansions and additions, and the current game boasts 20 playable characters, each with their own unique advantages and disadvantages. Right now, Armello is ramping up to its first major overhaul, version 2.0, expected later this year.
The setup is simple. Armello exists in a world of anthropomorphic critters, who live under the rule of a noble lion king. But oh, no! The king has contracted a vicious disease called "the Rot", which causes madness and paranoia to consume a being's body and soul until nothing but cruelty and rage remain.
Suffice to say, these are traits few desire in a king, so the clans of animals set out to fix the issue in various ways.
You play as one of the ever-expanding cast of heroes, competing on a randomly generated hex-grid gameboard. You take turns moving around the board whichever way you choose, accomplishing a variety of goals and undermining foes. You can win a game by unseating the king through brute combat, or else gather enough Rot power of your own to overpower him completely and become the new Dark Lord. Non-combat characters can win through gathering the four holy spirit stones and cleansing the king of his infection. Clever characters can use trickery and strategy to gain Prestige, while delaying the efforts of the other players. After a set amount of turns, the Rot will kill the king without a fight, and the player with the highest Prestige will be chosen as the new king.
I've always loved board games, but I've come a long way from Candyland. These days I need something that's simple to learn, yet hard to master. It's the aspect of gaming that's made games like chess, go, and shogi stand the test of time, and it's a concept that Armello has grasped quite well. With each new expansion, I've found at least one new playable character who re-defines some aspect of the game and adds new strategic elements into the mix. Far from slight variations on a theme, new characters seem to center on the philosophy of "how can we add something new, without unbalancing what's there." I'll give you two examples.
First, let's talk about Twiss.
Introduced in the Bandit Clan DLC, Twiss is a much loved, much hated addition to the game, who gives a definite edge to those players who favor a non-combat style of play. Her sneaky, teasing behavior and game-changing abilities have led to many rants of savage contempt for the adorable little rodent, but she's a good place to show off the effort made by developers to keep the game fun and exciting over the years.
Twiss' special power allows her to always evade when she is attacked, meaning that any "attack" dice she would normally have rolled become "defense" dice. This makes it very hard for enemies to hit her. In addition, any time she survives an attack, she steals a card from her aggressor's hand. Because of this, most players agree that it's simply not worth it to attack Twiss directly, resorting to traps, spells, and more complex methods of play to take her out.
Until Twiss was introduced, a player who picked one of the aggressive, fight-heavy characters could expect to win almost any combat. With Twiss on the field, those players must account for her through strategy and guile - elements they may not normally be inclined to pursue. It may mean taking quests or equipping items that make them more adept at magic or trickery, while ignoring the weapons and armor they would have normally been snapping up for battlefield dominance.
But like everything in Armello, there is balance, and here we see it in the narrowing of the character's path to ultimate victory. While she is able to evade when attacked, this boon does not activate when Twiss goes on the offensive. Couple that with one of the lowest natural attack stats of any character in the game, and Twiss has some major hurdles to jump if she has any hope of winning a Kingslayer victory. Defeating other players in combat is also a major source of the Prestige needed for a Prestige victory. Canny players know that Twiss will usually attempt to gather spirit stones, and can move to intercept.
Next, let's talk about one of the newest additions, Yordana.
Added in the most recent DLC, Rivals, Yordana is a member of the magic-heavy Bear Clan, and adds an entirely new aspect of strategy for those players who love to think ahead.
Like most caster characters, Yordana players will be pulling most of their cards each round from the "magic" deck, but Yordana's special ability allows her to "burn" those cards to gain a special Yordana-only curse that can be played on another player. She can steal stat points from others, or gain life when others win in combat, become invisible to a player, and more. Knowing which curse is most beneficial each round provides a distinct advantage, and a kind of reactionary power that no one else has.
On the other hand, the curses only last until the cursed player dies, as returning to the starting area wipes away any detrimental effects. So stacking too many curses on a single foe, only to have that player suffer a defeat, will undo several turns worth of planning.
Gaining versatility is balanced with a loss of versatility, though. Yordana's power is used by playing spell cards on herself during her turn, without gaining any of the card's effects. This increases the need for Yordana's player to think ahead, since they are forced to play any beneficial spells on themselves before they are needed, while it is not yet their turn.
(Bonus! I'm including a picture of all of Yordana's curses, right here.
The curse card you get each turn will match the symbol on the last spell card you burn during her turn, so don't be afraid to burn more than one to get rid of cards, but remember to burn the desired symbol last.)
Over the course of gaming history, we've seen lots of board games adapted into video games. We've seen the shoe, car, and thimble race around a digital board and watched little houses pop up as we buy property, but we've always known that everything being done on screen, apart from the 3D animations, is just a digital representation of something that can (does) exist in the physical world.
Armello does deserve praise for it's expected game elements. Its charming, personality-filled character animations are obviously designed with love and attention to each character, from the way they move between spaces to the way they react to traps. The beautiful soundtrack moves and flows in the background - inspiring by day, perilous by night, always adding flavor but never getting in the way.
That said, the true genius of the game is that League of Geeks has crafted something new here, which has the spirit of a physical game, but cannot truly be reverse-engineered into an actual physical game without losing major parts of what it is. I'll list a few, but there are many more, I'm sure.
What really sets Armello apart is that it isn't a video game trying to emulate a board game, it's a video board game. Everything seems to serve the goal of delivering the best version of what board games are, if computing and networking are considered part of the toolkit from the beginning. The definitive board game for the internet age.
With its mobile release, I'm hoping to see a whole new crop of fans in time for the release of 2.0, and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what new surprises League of Geeks has in store for us as we get closer to that time. They've set up a web site announcing new monthly goodies here.
I said with a toothy grin, hat in hand, as you desperately begin to regret opening your front door to a hat salesman or whatever.
"...I'd like a moment of your time to talk about Armello."
Well. This wasn't what you expected. You'd always wanted to meet a representative of a weird cult and talk it out with them, who hasn't? In the end, that kind of thing is a lot of trouble, and takes too much time out of the weekend.
You invite me in, give me the traditional offering of yak milk and confetti brownies, and we begin to discuss the story of a wonderful game that you may have heard about in passing on Steam.
Okay, so Armello isn't a cult, it just sort of feels like one at times. You know, in that "my friends and I have this crazy thing that we really believe in, and we keep pulling the people we know towards it, and probably talk about it too much, and we know it never quite caught fire like we want it to, but we hope it will someday" kind of way.
Armello is an online board game released on PC in late 2015 by League of Geeks. Since then, it's seen a release on PS4 and Xbox One, and as of March 15th of 2018, it's finally been adapted to and released on mobile devices worldwide (for free!). If you own a mobile device (or better yet, a tablet), this means that the only remaining reasons not to try it are if you hate board games, hate fun, or hate animals. And if you hate animals, I'm not (and never have been) talking to you. You may go.
The game has gone through many expansions and additions, and the current game boasts 20 playable characters, each with their own unique advantages and disadvantages. Right now, Armello is ramping up to its first major overhaul, version 2.0, expected later this year.
The setup is simple. Armello exists in a world of anthropomorphic critters, who live under the rule of a noble lion king. But oh, no! The king has contracted a vicious disease called "the Rot", which causes madness and paranoia to consume a being's body and soul until nothing but cruelty and rage remain.
Suffice to say, these are traits few desire in a king, so the clans of animals set out to fix the issue in various ways.
You play as one of the ever-expanding cast of heroes, competing on a randomly generated hex-grid gameboard. You take turns moving around the board whichever way you choose, accomplishing a variety of goals and undermining foes. You can win a game by unseating the king through brute combat, or else gather enough Rot power of your own to overpower him completely and become the new Dark Lord. Non-combat characters can win through gathering the four holy spirit stones and cleansing the king of his infection. Clever characters can use trickery and strategy to gain Prestige, while delaying the efforts of the other players. After a set amount of turns, the Rot will kill the king without a fight, and the player with the highest Prestige will be chosen as the new king.
First, let's talk about Twiss.
Introduced in the Bandit Clan DLC, Twiss is a much loved, much hated addition to the game, who gives a definite edge to those players who favor a non-combat style of play. Her sneaky, teasing behavior and game-changing abilities have led to many rants of savage contempt for the adorable little rodent, but she's a good place to show off the effort made by developers to keep the game fun and exciting over the years.
Twiss' special power allows her to always evade when she is attacked, meaning that any "attack" dice she would normally have rolled become "defense" dice. This makes it very hard for enemies to hit her. In addition, any time she survives an attack, she steals a card from her aggressor's hand. Because of this, most players agree that it's simply not worth it to attack Twiss directly, resorting to traps, spells, and more complex methods of play to take her out.
Until Twiss was introduced, a player who picked one of the aggressive, fight-heavy characters could expect to win almost any combat. With Twiss on the field, those players must account for her through strategy and guile - elements they may not normally be inclined to pursue. It may mean taking quests or equipping items that make them more adept at magic or trickery, while ignoring the weapons and armor they would have normally been snapping up for battlefield dominance.
But like everything in Armello, there is balance, and here we see it in the narrowing of the character's path to ultimate victory. While she is able to evade when attacked, this boon does not activate when Twiss goes on the offensive. Couple that with one of the lowest natural attack stats of any character in the game, and Twiss has some major hurdles to jump if she has any hope of winning a Kingslayer victory. Defeating other players in combat is also a major source of the Prestige needed for a Prestige victory. Canny players know that Twiss will usually attempt to gather spirit stones, and can move to intercept.
Next, let's talk about one of the newest additions, Yordana.
Like most caster characters, Yordana players will be pulling most of their cards each round from the "magic" deck, but Yordana's special ability allows her to "burn" those cards to gain a special Yordana-only curse that can be played on another player. She can steal stat points from others, or gain life when others win in combat, become invisible to a player, and more. Knowing which curse is most beneficial each round provides a distinct advantage, and a kind of reactionary power that no one else has.
On the other hand, the curses only last until the cursed player dies, as returning to the starting area wipes away any detrimental effects. So stacking too many curses on a single foe, only to have that player suffer a defeat, will undo several turns worth of planning.
Gaining versatility is balanced with a loss of versatility, though. Yordana's power is used by playing spell cards on herself during her turn, without gaining any of the card's effects. This increases the need for Yordana's player to think ahead, since they are forced to play any beneficial spells on themselves before they are needed, while it is not yet their turn.
(Bonus! I'm including a picture of all of Yordana's curses, right here.
The curse card you get each turn will match the symbol on the last spell card you burn during her turn, so don't be afraid to burn more than one to get rid of cards, but remember to burn the desired symbol last.)
~~~~~~
Over the course of gaming history, we've seen lots of board games adapted into video games. We've seen the shoe, car, and thimble race around a digital board and watched little houses pop up as we buy property, but we've always known that everything being done on screen, apart from the 3D animations, is just a digital representation of something that can (does) exist in the physical world.
Armello does deserve praise for it's expected game elements. Its charming, personality-filled character animations are obviously designed with love and attention to each character, from the way they move between spaces to the way they react to traps. The beautiful soundtrack moves and flows in the background - inspiring by day, perilous by night, always adding flavor but never getting in the way.
That said, the true genius of the game is that League of Geeks has crafted something new here, which has the spirit of a physical game, but cannot truly be reverse-engineered into an actual physical game without losing major parts of what it is. I'll list a few, but there are many more, I'm sure.
- A physical version of Armello would probably demand that one player be devoted to the role of King, controlling the royal guard and evil bane units, building the gameboard in a sufficiently spaced-out way, and placing traps and perils around the kingdom for the players to overcome, but never getting to really engage like the other players. A tedious role that is neatly handled by a computer.
- AI controlled players fill any empty player slots as well, insuring that the game is always a 4-player free for all. Because there will always be four players, the game is much more easily balanced. The board remains the same size, the opponents the same strength, and none of the systems or features need to be scaled up or down to account for group size, thus there's no "sweet spot" to abuse like in some other games.
- A physical board game would be unable to effectively emulate the stealth mechanic, which makes one player invisible to some or all of the rest. In addition to hiding their movement, stealth makes players un-targetable by direct spells and traps, and allows them to ambush other players for combat advantage. I can't think of a way that this rogue-enabling mechanic could be fully realized outside of this format.
What really sets Armello apart is that it isn't a video game trying to emulate a board game, it's a video board game. Everything seems to serve the goal of delivering the best version of what board games are, if computing and networking are considered part of the toolkit from the beginning. The definitive board game for the internet age.
With its mobile release, I'm hoping to see a whole new crop of fans in time for the release of 2.0, and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what new surprises League of Geeks has in store for us as we get closer to that time. They've set up a web site announcing new monthly goodies here.
~~~~~
TL;DR - Armello is great. You should come play it with me.
Great Blog. I could not stop reading, even during my lunch break.
ReplyDeleteTook me a few cuts but finished and I gotta say spot on and fully agree with the presentation.
ReplyDelete